


Memories

by TheSerpentGamer



Series: Non Tickle Fics [6]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Abuse, Abusive Deceit Sanders, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Evil Deceit Sanders, Fluff and Angst, Gen, M/M, Memory Loss, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-04
Updated: 2019-09-04
Packaged: 2020-10-10 00:44:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20519183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSerpentGamer/pseuds/TheSerpentGamer
Summary: Summary: Deceit has the power to take memoriesTRIGGER WARNINGS: abuse, angst, swearing, fighting, blood, BUT there’s a happy ending





	Memories

Patton hovered his knight above the board, searching for the right square.

“No, not there. The knight can only move in a two and one pattern.” Logan advised.

Patton pouted and moved it over a square before setting it down. He looked up to Logan for approval and smiled when he gave an approving nod.

“Boy, chess sure is hard.”

“Not particularly, but it can be somewhat challenging in the beginning.”

The two continued, very slowly, playing Patton’s first round of chess as Roman took selfies in the background.

“Get away from me.” 

“Come, now, Virgil. What happened to us?”

“I said get away!”

Patton looked up to see Virgil with his hood over his head rushing into the living room with Deceit tagging behind.

“We used to be something strong, since when do you treasure complicity with them over the strength of us?” Deceit emphasized ‘them’ with a look of disgust.

Patton got a glance of Virgil’s face hidden by his hood. He had tear tracks running his makeup and a look of vulnerability and fear.

“Stop it.” Patton commanded, standing up and bringing out his seldom heard ‘dad voice’. “You’re making him uncomfortable.”

Deceit turned to him. “What do you know about this, morality? Stay out of it. He’s mine.”

Patton gritted his teeth. “He’s not yours. He’s not mine either, he’s his own person.”

“No, he’s anxiety.” Virgil flinched behind Patton, shaking. “You three brainwashed him with your light side ways, he can’t do anything in this state. He’s weak.”

“Oh, shut up, you Snake-faced liar!” Roman shouted, stepping forward next to Patton. With a twirl of his fingers he conjured a rotten tomato to throw at Deceit’s face.

The tomato splattered across his face, red seeping between his scales.

Deceit looked enraged.

“You think you’re the only one with power, do you?” Deceit growled in a layered voice… similar to Virgil’s when he got anxious. His pupils faded and his eyes glowed yellow.

“I am the embodiment of deception, I can control your realities” He glared at Virgil. “And as for you. My traitorous son. I created you, and I can take you back.”

In an instant, Deceit flew by at inhuman speeds until he was standing two inches from Virgil. He grabbed his neck with one hand and shook off the glove on the other, revealing pale fingers with glowing yellow finger tips.

Before the others could stop him, Deceit touched his fingers to Virgil’s forehead.

Virgil gagged and coughed from the pressure on his throat as he shook his head back and forth.

Within second, Deceit pulled away with a small lavender orb in his hands. Virgil dropped to the floor unconscious.

The orb was luminescent with wisps of energy flowing throughout it. Deceit held it in his hands with a look of malice and victory.

“What did you do to him?!” Patton screamed as he rushed to Virgil’s side.

“Deception is a wonderfully powerful thing.” Deceit purred, eyeing the orb. “It can change your perspective… and even change your memories.” He snickered and snapped his fingers… and the orb disappeared into thin air.

Patton was at Virgil’s side, holding him in his arms with tears running down his face.

Roman and Logan were up in a second, yelling at Deceit, but Patton was focused on Virgil…

He moved.

He was alive!

Virgil stirred and opened his eyes, Patton smiled down at him.

“Morality? Why… are you here?”

Patton’s relieved smile faded to a hurt look of confusion.

Logan and Roman looked back, confused as well. They approached him.

Logan spoke up. “Virgil… do-”

Virgil’s eyes snapped open and he growled. “How the fuck do you know that name?!” He crawled back a bit, stumbling on his own hands.

He looked scared and aggressive, he looked like…

Like he did before they-

they… 

“Vir-… Um- Anxiety? Do you… remember-”

“Creativity too? What are you three light sides doing here? Just get away from me!” Virgil shouted.

“Oh, come, now. Let’s go back to the Crevice.” Deceit purred.

Virgil looked at him and… smiled.

“Thanks, dad.”

Virgil approached him and Deceit grabbed his jacket. “You won’t want this anymore.”

“My hoodie- wait, it’s different.” Virgil eyed the patchwork.

“It’s from them.” Deceit yanked it off Virgil and threw it to the ground.

“They gave it to me? I thought they-”

“They just wanted to brainwash you into loving them. Come with me, Anxiety.”

Deceit then left with Virgil.

Patton was on his knees, shocked, looking at the jacket Deceit so carelessly discarded on the ground.

Tears fell from Patton’s eyes.

“What… happened?”

“I always knew Deceit had power over the mind, but… He has incredible power over the mind of Virgil. They must have a history.”

“He called him dad.” Patton whimpered. “He… didn’t like me. It’s like we’re not family.”

“What on God’s Earth just happened!?” Roman shouted.

“I think… he took his memories.” Logan stammered.

“He can do that?”

“I… suppose.”

“Well how do we get them back?” Roman asked.

“…I don’t know.”

…

Logan flipped through another psychology book. Nothing. None of this made sense, how could he erase memories like that? You can’t just make them disappear.

Unless…

Logan gasped at his revelation.

“Of course! Memories can’t be erased just like that, however, he could have moved them somewhere else so the brain doesn’t know how to access them!” 

“So, we can get him back?” Roman asked hopefully.

“If we can find where they’re stored, yes.”

“Well, where would they be stored?”

“Deceit just snapped to put them somewhere, he didn’t thoughtfully put them in a hidden place. If he just sent the memories out to find their own hiding place, they would go somewhere with strong sentiment, somewhere that can trigger memories like that.”

“Yeah, so? Where?”

“They’d need to be stored in an object that means a lot to Virgil.”

“What could mean a lot to Virgil?” Roman pondered aloud. He glanced at Patton who was clutching Virgil’s hoodie and sobbing.

“…The hoodie!” Roman shouted and looked to Logan for approval.

“That would make sense, it does mean a great deal to him, and he obtained it after being accepted as a light side.”

“Part of the family.” Patton sniffled.

“So we just need to get him to wear the hoodie again!” Roman declared, grabbing the jacket. “Let’s go find the rest of our family.”

…

To find Virgil, they had to go to where the dark sides lived.

The crevice.

None of them had ever been there, and none of them wanted to be there. It was a place of repression, self-hate, loathing, and festering negativity.

It looked similar to the mind palace in shape and size, but everything was broken down and decrepit. 

At the end of one hall was a rusty golden door with a sign reading “What you don’t know can’t hurt you.”

Deceit’s room.

Logan glanced at Patton to see him crying and holding the hoodie tightly to his chest.

“Roman, maybe you should lead.” Logan advised. Roman looked back as if to question why, but stopped when he saw Logan holding Patton’s arm comfortingly. 

Roman lead their group towards the door. He pushed it open with aggression, or more like protection for a lost friend.

Deceit grinned from his chair in the back of the room.

“Well, well, visitors. Please hurry, I’m a bit busy.” He wore a knowing malicious grin. 

Roman stormed up to his desk. “Where the fuck is Virgil you lying bastard?!” He all but screamed.

“Anxiety is training. Regaining his strength after you weakened him.”

“What the fuck does that mean?!”

“Oh Roman, aren’t you just so smart?”

Roman was red with anger, but refrained from strangling Deceit, knowing that would just upset Patton more.

“Please.” Patton whimpered. “Where’s my son?” He shook and clutched the hoodie tighter.

“I wouldn’t know, seeing as you don’t have a son. You’re just a pathetic cluster of paternal instinct and wildly unstable emotions held together by a clingy needy weakling. If you did have a son, I’m sure they’d somehow manage to be more pathetic than you.”

Patton began sobbing harder.

Logan snarled and got right in Deceit’s face.

“Deceit, you’re upsetting the balance of the entire mind here and creating conflict for no reason. Tell us where Virgil is or so help me I will teach you the pain you’ve been showing my loved ones.” He grabbed Deceit’s collar and threw his body onto the desk.

Deceit shouted in pain.

“Fine, if you want to see my boy so much, go to his room. You’ll be interrupting his training, however.” He snickered.

Logan let go of Deceit, but not without a final kick to the shin.

“Let’s go.” Logan growled.

Roman took Patton in his arms and left for Virgil’s room with Logan, leaving Deceit grinning whilst holding his bleeding scales.

…

Virgil’s door was cracked and covered in cobwebs, the sign with his name dangling by a single nail.

Roman took a breath before gently opening the door.

Virgil was on the floor with hundreds of wisping shadows darting around his room. He was breathing heavily, like he was having a panic attack.

Patton reached out without thinking. “Virgil, are you okay?”

He turned to look at them.

His eyes were a deep black and his eyeshadow was down to his cheeks. He snarled and hissed.

“Get away from me you bastards!”

Shadows darted all around, whispering thoughts of doubt and worry.

Logan and Roman stepped back, not knowing what to do.

Patton stepped forward.

“Virgil, you’re panicking. I want to help you. Breathe with me, can you do that? Breathe.”

Virgil took note of his breathing and tried slowing it down.

“Breathe in for four counts. One. Two. Three. Four.” Patton counted a slow steady beat. Virgil followed his instructions. “Hold for seven. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Good, you’re doing good. Now out for eight. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight.”

Virgil finished his breathing and the shadows had calmed, as well as his breath. He looked up at Patton with shaking hands. “Why… did you help me?”

“Because you’re family. We love you and care about you.”

Virgil looked unsure, but after a moment he got up. “So what’s with the jacket?”

“Deceit took your memories, this was your jacket. Remember? When we all changed harry potter houses?” Patton asked hopefully, holding out the jacket. Virgil just looked more confused.

“He can’t do that. And he wouldn’t, he takes care of me.” Virgil crossed his arms with a skeptical look.

“So why were you here?” Logan asked.

“He’s training me. He says that if I can control the mind’s anxiety at it’s fullest than we’ll be powerful.”

“That’s not what family does-”

“How would you know? You never were my family!” Virgil snapped.

“We were! We are. Please just put on this jacket, it’ll restore your memories.” Patton pleaded with tears in his eyes. Virgil paused.

“If I put this on will you light sides go back to your palace and leave me alone?”

“Yes, please. Just put it on.”

Virgil relented and sighed. He reached out and took the hoodie.

The three watched with bated breath as he slid it on.

…Nothing happened.

Patton was sure it would work… a few more seconds! It had to work!

“I’m leaving now, and you should be too. I knew you guys were lying, just like Deceit said. Get out of here.” Virgil growled and slid the hoodie back off before throwing it on the floor.

He left his room towards Deceit’s.

Patton fell to his knees where the jacket laid.

“It didn’t work. It had to work. But it didn’t.” He broke into tears again.

Roman sat on the foot of his bed, looking just as lost and helpless.

Logan just stared at them, helpless to help them.

Tears fell from all three.

They sat in the room, still a mess with all the shadows wisping around and knocking things over.

It was hopeless.

Patton felt like he was about lose everything, including his own heart, when he saw something. 

Amongst all the stuff that had been knocked to the ground, was a piece of paper.

No… a card.

Patton crawled to it and picked it up. It was the card he had made him, welcoming him to the family.

Patton stared at it, tears still falling, until he noticed a lavender stain on the cover. It was glowing…

Patton gasped and stood abruptly. 

“It’s here! Logan it’s here!” He shouted. Roman and Logan both rushed to his side.

There was indeed a glowing lavender stain on the sheet, the exact same color as the orb from before.

“This is it, this is what will restore Virgil’s memories.” Logan sighed a breath of relief. 

“We have to get this to him, now.” Roman demanded.

…

“Anxiety, you have to be able to face your own anxiety to have any kind of power over the mind. It’s not difficult, just try for once.” Deceit snapped.

“Yes, sir.” Virgil sighed.

“I assume those light sides have returned to their domain.”

“Well, I told them to-”

“You didn’t make sure of it did you?”

“…No.”

“Disappointing as always. Why do I even bother?”

Virgil wiped a tear from his eye.

“Virgil!” Patton shouted as he slammed open the door.

“What the Hell are you doing here? I wore your stupid jacket!”

“Please, just look at this card.” Patton handed him the paper.

Virgil slowly took it and looked at it.

He paused.

“Fam…ily.”

The lavender began to glow.

“Anxiety, put that down now!” Deceit demanded.

The lavender continued to glow, until it was almost blinding. 

Virgil’s eyes widened and with a spark and a wave of light, the stain was gone, and Virgil was on the floor again.

Patton rushed to his side. Deceit ran at him but Roman practically tackled him to keep him away.

“Virgil?” Patton asked.

Virgil opened his eyes.

“Patton? What happened?”

Patton gasped and hugged him tight, tears still falling, but for a different reason now. Love.

“You’re okay. Thank God you’re okay.”

“What’s going on? Wait, why the fuck are we in Deceit’s-”

“Anxiety don’t listen to them!” Deceit yelled.

Patton looked at Deceit with fear then back at Virgil. “Would you like to go back to the mind palace?”

“Yes please.” He nodded.

“Roman?” Patton looked to Roman, who nodded then picked up Virgil in his arms.

“Logan, let’s go.” Roman told Logan who looked like he was about to kick Deceit in the face.

“Okay.” He agreed.

The three departed from the crevice as quickly as possible.

When they got back, they went to the living room and Roman laid Virgil down on the couch.

Virgil rubbed his head and cringed. “Why does my head hurt so bad? Why are you guys so freaked out? What happened?”

“Calm down, Stormcloud. Breathe.” Roman advised.

“Deceit took your memories and took you back to the crevice. We had to get them, and you, back.” Patton explained.

Virgil groaned. “I hate that guy. But thanks, you guys did a lot for me. It means a lot.”

“I’m just happy you’re okay.” Patton hugged him again, tight and warm. “We’re family again.”


End file.
